Description
Book SynopsisThis is volume 1 of six accessible volumes covering UNITE’s history from 1880-2010. The history of the TGWU is the core of this collection, with a significant emphasis on the union’s regions, as well as several key themes, such as equality, internationalism, the wider labour movement, and its attitude to the conflict between capital and labour.
This first volume (1880-1931) covers the formation of the TGWU. It was rooted in an era in which, starting in the 1880’s, a mass trade union movement was formed. The drive to amalgamate the unions was spearheaded by Ernest Bevin and resulted in the creation of the TGWU, 1920-22 - a period which witnessed an intensification of pre and post WW1 militancy. Such militancy continued, albeit unevenly until 1926 and was met with resistance from employers and the State culminating in the mighty confrontation of the General Strike. Politically the union had a close relationship with the Labour Party and its two minority Governments (1923-4 and 1929-31). The defeat of 1926 marked a watershed in British labour history in which, again, the TGWU played a key role. Trade union militancy was succeeded by an attempt at negotiated accommodation with the employers, known as ‘Mondism’. Bevin was central to this development.
Trade Review‘The book takes you on a long, passionate, and moving political journey depicting the growth and power of the trade union movement. It winds its way through the years of trauma, hardship, and poverty of the working classes, defining in great detail how they evolved, particularly during the war years and the economic crash of the 1930s. It includes the rise in women’s rights and the fluctuating influences unions had on the working classes and still have to this day… Anyone would be proud to own this book and it would feel at home on the shelves of universities, colleges, and schools all over the United Kingdom.’ Diane Hoyles, Labour History Review
Table of ContentsSECTION 1: ORIGINS & FORMATION 1880-1924Chapter 1: Setting the scene 1880-1920Chapter 2: Creating the TGWU 1920-22Chapter 3: The TGWU & the Labour Movement 1922 -24
SECTION 2: FROM CHALLENGE TO COLLABORATION 1925-28Chapter 4: Preparations for the General Strike 1925-26 Chapter 5: The General Strike 1926Chapter 6: Co-operation & Incorporation 1926-27Chapter 7: ‘Mondism’: Talking to Big Business 1927-28
SECTION 3: RESCUING LABOUR 1929-31Chapter 8: Running the Union in difficult times: too close to employers?Chapter 9: The TGWU, Bevin and the Economic CrisisChapter 10: Labour Rescued
